Anyone ever have this happen???

[disneypolybride2008]

Our last visit in March we went to the CP for breakfast before we had to leave for our flight. We ate early, rode the trolley with the horse and then headed for the busses. It was probably around 10am. We went to the Caribbean Beach stop and WAITED WAITED WAITED. There were tons of busses going around the loop but when they turned the corner their screen name was all changed to the same wierd thing.. dont know what it was-not any resort name. It was a couple of letters. They all just drove right past us. There were no other people waiting to be picked up, but eventually someone came to the POP stop. It was 45 min of waiting and seeing the busses ride past ever 30 seconds. I called our resort and they said that was odd, they should've stopped. During the call one finally did. It was literally 45 minutes.
I asked disney transportation today what i did wrong or how i could've not waited SO long.. and they said the busses are supposed to pick up people at the stops... well they didnt! She said we shouldn't wait more than 25 min. She said there are phones by the bus stop so if it happens again i should press 0 and tell someone. She also said CM's are at the bus stops (not that time, or any actually) so they could phone the busses and get one to pick us up. Well on my upcoming trip i want to do a character breakfast again before i need to leave but i dont want to have to budget 45 min or longer to get a bus at MK. Anyone ever have this happen? Any advice? THanks!

 

[Robert P]

In the early a.m., if you are heading back from a park, I believe the term is 'upstream'. A bus that drops off might not being going back to that same resort.
We've had that happen before twice. In both cases, a transpo van person saw us, and called for a bus to stop and return us to the resort. Once, we waited about 25 minutes for that to happen. The other time, we waited maybe 5 minutes before we were spotted.
Not sure how to avoid it, but if it is early a.m., don't assume a bus is coming to take you back. Use that phone as soon as you get to the stop.

 

[shoes99]

Happened to us when DH wanted to go to EMH open early at MK to buy a limited edition pin coming out that day. We purchased the special pins then headed back to the bus stop. There were no busses stopping. I had to ask for help and they sent a bus. They don't regularly schedule busses to return to hotels in the early AM when most folks are just getting to the parks.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Shoes99 is right - the buses usually don't run back and forth between two points, they loop around from one resort to a park to another resort to another park to another resort to a water park to another park...

I'm surprised the OP didn't see any Transportation CMs in the MK bus area. They're pretty much always, if not out among the resort signs then at the entrance to the bus pickup area.

 

[seashoreCM]

By now it can be considered a long long time ago -- when there was a system for the bus stops planned where you swipe your room key as soon as you get to the bus stop to request bus service.

That plan was never put in effect but now that someone mentioned phones at the bus stops ...

Was it intended all along, that you phone for a bus as soon as you get to the stop?

This way, if there is a target time to get a bus of 20 minutes from when you call, you were not already there another 20 minutes for a total wait of 40 minutes plus.

If your last activity in town is a meal, better to do it at the airport. You can always get an earlier than normal Magical Express bus time for the asking. Make this change at least a day in advance.

 

[Debbie-TN]

We were at Studios one day and I had left my pass back at the hotel. I went to the bus stop and waited and waited. After 45 minutes, I asked a bus driver that was letting people off, why a bus had not been by to pick me up. He said that buses didn't pick up people up to go back to the resorts before 11. That makes no sense. I have never seen phones at the bus stops and there's never CM's there in the mornings.

 

[cigar95]

Shoes99 is right - the buses usually don't run back and forth between two points, they loop around from one resort to a park to another resort to another park to another resort to a water park to another park...

While I'm familiar with this explanation, I still don't understand it. If a bus is coming from the Beach Club, dropping off guests at the MK, and then heading back to Pop century, I see no reason why it can't pull into the PC slot at the bus depot and pick up passengers there. The incoming passengers don't even see the name on the slot unless they turn around backwards - all they'll see is "Magic Kingdom".

My simple-minded thought is that any time a bus is stopping at point A and then going to point B, it seems logical to pick up any passengers trying to get from A to B, regardless of where the bus actually came from before arriving at A.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Can't tell ya. I do know that frequently a bus - even early in the morning - will drop Guests not at its originating resort's bus stop, but at a different stop. This could just be closer to the park, or it could be the stop for the resort to which it's departing...

It is a bit surprising that no bus even stopped where Debbie-TN was waiting, whether it was going to her resort or somewhere else.

 

[clkelley]

While I'm familiar with this explanation, I still don't understand it. If a bus is coming from the Beach Club, dropping off guests at the MK, and then heading back to Pop century, I see no reason why it can't pull into the PC slot at the bus depot and pick up passengers there. The incoming passengers don't even see the name on the slot unless they turn around backwards - all they'll see is "Magic Kingdom".

My simple-minded thought is that any time a bus is stopping at point A and then going to point B, it seems logical to pick up any passengers trying to get from A to B, regardless of where the bus actually came from before arriving at A.

You are most definitely correct, BUT they try to minimize a bus running empty as much as possible, SO a bus coming from CBR TO Magic Kingdom in the morning, is most likely sent off to the Poly, GF, or Contemporary as they are very close to MK, so not much "empty" time. Since there is NOT a bus stop for any of those resorts, there would be no stop to "pick up" passengers. The buses would then pick up passengers at one of those resorts to go to the Studios or AK, then, pick up passengers for AKL, or All-Stars, or if they went to Studios, then pickups for CBR, Pop, or other close by resorts.

To be honest, you may have done better if you had hopped the monorail to Epcot, then waited on an upstream bus to CBR. Since CBR is closer to Epcot, then there would have been a chance of a bus coming from somewhere else, then heading to CBR.

Oh and yes, we have had this recently happen to us!! We went to Blizzard Beach early in the morning for a quick round of mini golf (which we were done with by 10:30 am), then tried to get a bus to Coronado Springs to eat breakfast and had to wait over 45 minutes with two calls to transportation. To say the least we missed breakfast and had to have lunch.

 

[seashoreCM]

It should be publicized when and how often buses take guests back to the resorts in the morning so guests can plan accordingly.

Maybe a small fleet of lower fuel consumption minivans could be kept for these low volume trips.

Who was saying that irregularities like these should be brought to the attention of Guest Relations? I would say that the comment in this thread about buses not taking guests back to resorts before 11 should not deter us from making such reports.

I would even like to see digital signs showing when the next bus will arrive. Disney Imagineering has come up with so many innovations over the years and such signs would surely be in keeping with that.

 

[cranbiz]

To return to a resort from Magic in the morning.

You go to the A side and find the zone for your resort. There are tent signs there to identify your zone. There are buses that only service upstreams. There should be a driver in the area who controls those buses, he will get a bus for you.

From DTD you go to the Marketplace as PI does not open for guests until 11am. Go to the loadzone for your resort and the coordinator who sits in the white van will direct a bus to pick you up.

At Epcot, there is a coordinator on both sides and they will radio to the dispatcher when upstreams are waiting in the load zone.

Studios may take a little longer as the coordinator is out by the charter lot and has limited visibility, but again go to your resorts load zone.

AK has a driver on the ground who will get you a bus, he is on the A/B side load zones 1-10.

In all cases, it should not take more than 15 minutes to get a bus for you, many times it will be less.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

Last January DD and I went to the MK at rope drop to get her hair done at the Barbershop. We then were heading back to SSR.

After waiting about 15 minutes with no buses in sight, we spoke to the Transportation official who was there and he called a bus for us. Lesson learned.

 

[cigar95]

You are most definitely correct, BUT they try to minimize a bus running empty as much as possible, SO a bus coming from CBR TO Magic Kingdom in the morning, is most likely sent off to the Poly, GF, or Contemporary as they are very close to MK, so not much "empty" time. Since there is NOT a bus stop for any of those resorts, there would be no stop to "pick up" passengers. The buses would then pick up passengers at one of those resorts to go to the Studios or AK, then, pick up passengers for AKL, or All-Stars, or if they went to Studios, then pickups for CBR, Pop, or other close by resorts.

OK, this is the best explanation I've heard yet.

Having said this, guests *are* free to return from a park at unusual hours, and there ought to be a mechanism to let transportation know that such a trip is desired.

I second the notion of having some smaller-capacity vehicles available for such instances. In fact, I have thought in the past that it might even make sense to use such vehicles as part of the regular rotation during off hours. For instance, at 10:45 there may not be all that many guests going to Animal Kingdom from the Boardwalk - a smaller van might well handle the load.

Admittedly, you never know when a larger "swarm" of guests may appear. But I suspect this idea has crossed the mind of someone at Disney and some sport of relevant traffic study has been done.